Julian Vasquez Heilig is a national treasure. He is a well-educated researcher. He has a conscience and a heart. And with all that, he has courage and humor.
I love reading his blog, Cloaking Inequity. Not only his analyses sharp, but he usually has clever graphics.
This is latest post. He responds to critics of his policy brief on Néw Orleans, and he glories in some unexpected recognition.
Julian is a professor at California State University at Sacramento. If your community is planning a public forum, invite him to speak. You will learn and enjoy.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I enjoy reading the blogs and articles of those who care about public education as I do. This is a good one! I also force myself, however, to read the publications of the enemy, of the fast buck seeking Wall Street bankers and their fast buck seeking politicians, professors (Harvard), and economists (in addition to the ANP and KKK). I’ve been keeping tabs on the economics magazine Foreign Affairs, put out by the group-think tank, the National Council on Foreign Affairs. I am led to believe the Bush and Clinton families are members. It often seems to me that statements from the Obama White House mimic what I read in that publication.
When Lehman Brothers collapsed they said, No, don’t raise taxes and increase revenue; education reform will save us! Race to the Top was praised, as Big Data will save us! Increasing smart phone usage will make people smarter than public schooling can! iPads for all, and taxes for none! More recently, robots will replace all workers and create a utopia in which all human beings will be allowed to spend all of their time at leisure while the machines do all the work, including raising and teaching our children.
But a change is afoot. Very recently, The occasional article has been published in Foreign Affairs that recognizes the limitations of robots, Big Data, and even education reform. Let’s help them continue to see the errors of their ways.
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He seems like a nice guy, and he does a great job at coming up with colorful and interesting pictures for his blog, but on an issue like this, he is out of his league in trying to spar with experts like Doug Harris and Morgan Polikoff.
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I thoroughly enjoyed these reflections by Prof. Vasquez, and I hope they gain significant political traction. To chime in with my own two philosophical cents on the tragic lockstep national march toward industrialization of education, let me point to a more fleshed-out version of comments on the industrial model of education that I offered on Prof. Ravitch’s blog on June 26, 2015. This link is to my op-ed commentary in today’s Rutland Herald, one of Vermont’s main newspapers: http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150903/OPINION04/709039953
Steven Fesmire is professor of philosophy and environmental studies at Green Mountain College in Vermont. He is the author of Dewey (Routledge, 2015) and other books.
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